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Anyone who has sped across the cities of the African Great Lakes region at night on the back of a motorcycle taxi, whether gliding along Kigali’s immaculate thoroughfares with their flashing disco-lit traffic islands or dodging potholes in backstreets of Kampala, will understand why this mode of transport does such roaring trade. Termed boda-bodas in Uganda (derived from the term ‘border-border’ in reference to their origin in the Kenya-Uganda borderlands) and taxi-motos in the Francophone countries, the two-wheeled public transport option offers a solution to that most common of urban nuisances: traffic gridlock. In a region of hills, valleys and swamps, the ease and convenience of the boda/moto option is unparalleled for those who can afford the dollar or so it costs to cross the city. Visitors returning from the region to Europe or the United States often endure a frustrating transition period, incredulous that they can no longer simply step out of the house, find a personalised ride in seconds and reach their destination in minutes. Despite its popularity, in the conflict-torn Great Lakes region the motorcycle-taxi business has a murky past, a politically-charged present and an uncertain future. The business is also stained with the blood of alarming […]

The official narrative of the tragic events of April 1994 in Rwanda, catalysed by the shooting down of the plane carrying President Habyarimana, holds that responsibility for the death toll lies primarily with those who intended to destroy Rwandan Tutsis per se in order to secure Hutu domination. Genocide is characterised above all by the matter of intent. Every substantial account that upholds the official line links the issue of genocide planning with the Akazu – a shadowy organisation linked to the President that turned against him, the line goes, because his signing of the peace agreement known as the Arusha Accords was a betrayal of the cause of Hutu domination. Contrary to Somerville’s assertion in his review of my book, ‘Rwanda 1994: The Myth of the Akazu Genocide Conspiracy and Its Consequences’, I go into significant detail about the Akazu’s supposed membership and their activities. I demonstrate that none of the supposed ringleaders was found guilty of conspiracy to commit genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. I make a careful separation between the issues of genocide preparation and implementation, and discuss several convictions for acts of genocide. Nowhere do I state that the Akazu were said to […]

On 12 October, 38 signatories sent a letter to the BBC’s Director-General to protest against the contents of the documentary ‘Rwanda’s Untold Story’ first broadcast by BBC 2 on October 1. The letter states that the BBC has been “recklessly irresponsible” in broadcasting the film which has “fuelled genocide denial” and “further emboldened the génocidaires”. Only three of the signatories (Clark, Hintjens and Murison) are academics working on Rwanda (Linda Melvern calls herself ‘Professor’, but she is not; she has merely been an honorary professor at the University of Wales Aberystwyth). The others have either shown interest in Rwanda in the past or played a role there, or have a sectoral expertise, e.g. in genocide studies or international criminal law. Some are activists with a record of support for the Rwandan government. I will limit myself to a critical examination of the four claims in the documentary called “untenable” by the signatories. Before doing so it is useful to point out that the documentary is not challenged on other important points (such as the RPF’s human rights record and democratic credentials), which allows us to suppose that the signatories agree with much in the programme. First, the signatories are shocked […]

Review of Barrie Collins, Rwanda 1994: The Myth of the Akazu Genocide Conspiracy and Its Consequences, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2014, £65. Keith Somerville – Challenging accepted paradigms and questioning widely-held beliefs is a long-standing and very worthy strand of research and academic writing. Similarly, polemical writing may prompt us to re-examine our beliefs and accepted truths. One only need to look at the polemical style adopted by Nick Davies in Flat Earth News, in which he questions key aspects of modern journalism to see how polemic can give us fresh ideas. This is what Barrie Collins sets out to do in his new work on the Rwandan genocide. The book is written with the premise that (in Collins’ words): “the Rwandan genocide is highly problematic, to say the least. It is centred upon a totally false claim: that the Hutu-extremist Akazu planned and then implemented a genocide.” He contends that the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) of Paul Kagame shot down President Habyarimana’s plane, had the Rwandan army on the back foot and so the mass killings of Tutsis “erupted without prior organisation or planning.” He later makes the unsupportable claim that of the 800,000-1,000,000 Rwandans killed, the majority were probably […]

In July 1994, with the RPF was about to win the war against the Habyarimana regime and thus put an end to the genocide, a massive exodus of Hutu refugees took place to Rwanda’s neighbours. The vast majority of them, about two million, ended up in huge refugee camps in the then Zairean provinces of North and South Kivu (present day DRC.) Almost immediately, the regular army and the militias involved in the genocide reorganized life along the old lines, forcing the people to live under their authority and continuing the war by other means. The continuing disintegration of the Zairian state and the illness of its dictator Mobutu gave the rump of the Rwandan regime greater scope to operate without disturbance. Very soon the camps became an excellent base for hit and run actions intended on destabilizing the new regime in Kigali. In order to put an end to these infiltrations, Rwanda invaded its giant neighbour twice. The first time (1996-1997) led to a change of regime in Kinshasa. Zaire became Congo once again and the Rwandan ally Laurent-Désiré Kabila replaced Mobutu as head of state. The second war (1998-12002) is recorded in history as The Great African War. […]

We are pretty familiar with Rwanda: It is paradise….or it’s a prison. President Paul Kagame is a savior and a visionary…or Kagame is a tyrant and a war criminal. What you hear varies widely depending on whom you ask. Why is the Rwanda conversation so polarized? As the year of the 20th Anniversary of the Rwanda genocide approached, many journalists and observers–both in and outside Rwanda–remarked that no outlet existed for unbiased news on the country. Last year I tried to create an online newswire for unbiased reporting on post-genocide Rwanda. Though I had been impressed with Rwanda’s leadership and have long been considered a pro-government, even pro-Kagame journalist, I was aware that more balance was needed. Growing discontent with the status quo required a space for multiple points of view. Too Close for Comfort I’ve run into plenty of roadblocks while writing about Rwanda. But perhaps because I was viewed as sympathetic to the government, I found officials to be somewhat cooperative. Government communications staffers often contacted me wanting to be sure I had what they saw as the complete picture on big stories. We had a friendly, if sometimes tense, relationship. When I tried to become more nuanced, […]

I don’t know why I keep them, but I have never been able to just throw them away. Two small green folded cards found at a road block in Rwanda in 1994. “Karita Y’Ibiranga Umuntu – Carte d’Indentite Republika y’u Rwanda”. The name on one is Mugema. Resident of Gatore. No 0422828 Ethnie – Hutu. A boy of 20 with a round head and wearing a neat white shirt stares out. The name on the other is Gahigi Protais. Resident of Nyirabujali. No 781123 Ethnie – Tutsi. The picture shows a 39-year old man with a long head, large soft eyes and a moustache. A dark brown blood stain has seeped across it. On the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide people are talking again about ‘tribes’ in Africa. The Hutu ‘Tribe’, the Tutsi ‘Tribe’. But Hutus and Tutsis are not different tribes. That was the point. Tribally – ethnically – they are the same. They lived in the same space on the same hills. They speak the same language, have the same religion, and live within the same culture. The only difference is in appearance and, partly, in occupation. The (mostly) tall Tutsi were cattle keepers who settled in […]

It was the middle of the night when we arrived in Kigali and the first thing that struck me about this war-devastated city was the continual yapping and barking of dogs. There were more strays than usual because so many had lost their owners; unfed, they wandered around fighting with each other and sniffing hungrily whenever they smelt dead bodies. Later, many of these animals had to be shot, particularly as they had developed a taste for human flesh but, for now, they were almost useful because it was the noise of dogs that often led to the discovery of corpses. Bodies that had been left in obvious places had mostly been taken away for burial and places such as churches, where many still lay, were guarded. But the dogs sniffed out the hidden horrors, including those bodies in graves that victims had been forced to dig themselves before being murdered. War had destroyed the infrastructure of the city and there simply weren’t the resources to deal with this huge catastrophe. There was still some danger too because there were pockets of fighting continuing throughout this war-torn country. Despite everything, though, there was something reassuring about Kigali because the military […]

Rwanda and South Africa are once again caught up in a diplomatic row. This erupted following reports of an attack by a group of armed men on the Johannesburg residence of Rwandan dissident and former Army Chief of Staff, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa. The attack, which took place on March 3rd, comes on the heels of the killing last December of Rwanda’s former external intelligence chief, Patrick Karegeya. Both incidents and the attempted killing of General Kayumba in 2010 have brought suspicion upon the government of Rwanda for being behind them. A report by Reuters quoting South Africa intelligence sources states that the Kayumba residence attackers were followed back to the Rwanda embassy in Pretoria. Within days the South African government decided to expel all diplomats at the Rwandan High Commission, save for the High Commissioner. No official reasons were given save for reference in the letters they received from the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to “an accumulation of activities” incompatible with their diplomatic status. Sources in Kigali have expressed surprise at this because two of the expelled diplomats had just been posted to the embassy in Pretoria, having spent only three weeks in the country. Rwanda reciprocated in […]

Whilst I am not normally very superstitious, I could hardly imagine a more appropriate day to wait for the verdict on Victoire Ingabire’s trial in appeal. It was first scheduled for May but it was postponed several times. Eventually, the judgment was announced on Friday, December 13th. I had just concluded an exhausting journey through Congo and was preparing to take a plane back to Europe. Ingabire’s husband had promised to send me a text message from the Netherlands with the verdict. It was harsh: Victoire was condemned to 15 years in jail, almost twice her original sentence. The facts Victoire Ingabire lived with her ​​family in the Netherlands since 1993 and became involved in Rwandan politics in the diaspora. Nearly seventeen years later, she returned to Rwanda as the presidential candidate of a broad political movement – the United Democratic Forces (FDU). She knew she wouldn’t win the elections of August 2010. She knew she would not be able to tear down ‘fortress Kagame’, built over a decade and a half, in one election. But she did, bravely, step into the ring: “At some point, someone will have to break the first brick in the wall. Let this be […]

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